WHILE the news was predominantly good on the jobs front this year, more than 5,000 jobs were lost in a series of often surprise company closures.

Early in the year, the first indications of problems at one of Dundalk's biggest employers, the US electronics company Keytronic, surfaced. The company announced it was laying off 78 temporary workers in response to a downturn in demand for its computer keyboards.

But within a couple of months, it became clear that the entire project was doomed, with Keytronics announcing in May that it was to close with the loss of 316 jobs.

The news was a devastating blow to the town, where it had been one of the most stable employers for more than 10 years. The company told its workforce that the Dundalk plant was no longer viable as it was no longer" competitive on world markets.

It claimed that keyboards manufactured in the Far East can be imported into European markets much cheaper than they can be manufactured in Dundalk. The closure was part of a global restructuring of the Keytronic group.

In what was to be one of the most successful replacement industry initiatives this year, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton, was able to quickly soften the blow to the north east region. Within 24 hours he announced that the EPC plastics components manufacturer was to create 300 new jobs in a site close to Keytronics.

But more bad news was to follow in March, with signs that the Packard Electric plant in Tallaght, was once again in trouble.

With each successive week, it became clear to workers at the plant that temporary workers laid off in the previous summer were not going to be re employed. This had been expected as part of a last ditch agreement between the Government and unions, brokered by Mr Bruton himself in 1995.

Citing broadly the same problems as Keytronic, Packard management was indicating that the firm was continuing to face falling demand for its products until finally the parent company Delphi Packard, owned by General Motors, decided the Tallaght plant no longer had a future. All 800 jobs were to be lost.

Despite its troubled history, the announcement when it eventually came, was a shock to both the Government and IDA Ireland. Again, Packard was well established, employing a substantial workforce in Tallaght for over 20 years.

Its workforce had proved loyal throughout all of its past difficulties. Under the last negotiated agreement, they had accepted harsh terms, with close to half of them voting to accept lay offs for at least nine month periods, followed by possible redundancies, while the rest would continue operating under a pay freeze and work 41 hour weeks for 39 hours pay.

The widescale desolation was further aggravated by the way in which most of the workers learned of their fate. To their deep anger, workers coming off their shift received the news from reporters and photographers at the plant. None of the senior management were around to break the news, leaving it up to the shop steward to tell colleagues what was happening.

The closure was again part of a global review of Packard's European operations. The Government quickly moved to set up a task force to try to secure employment opportunities for the former Packard workers. The plant has since been totally refurbished, by Packard, with a view to attracting a new industry to the employment blackspot. IDA Ireland is hoping that a single big project will be secured for the area in 1997.

Another 900 job losses followed in September, with the closure of the Semperit tyre plant in Ballyfermot, in Dublin, and Tambrands, in Tipperary. These plants, it was claimed, were also no longer competitive.

German rubber industry giant AG agreed to a three month phased closure of its Semperit plant. But again in this case, the workers found they were almost the last to know what was going on. The first news workers heard about the job losses was through the media.

Eventually, Semperit Ireland's managing director told the workforce that the Irish plant "does not match the ideal profile of the group's manufacturing unit of the future". The decision, he stressed, was no reflection on the workforce.

More than two years previous, SIPTU had gone to IDA Ireland to discuss how to secure the plant's future after the union's" research showed that its long term future looked grim.

The problem for the plant was that it was one of several small ageing plants in the group that were gradually becoming less viable. Tyre prices to car factories and motorists were static, or even falling, while Continental Europe had over capacity equivalent to roughly the output of the Ballyfermot plant.

Plants in Scotland and Sweden were in a similar position, but they had crucial advantages over Ireland when the time came to wield the axe. In Sweden, there was a 20 per cent devaluation that suddenly made Swedish labour costs much more attractive. Both plants also had indigenous car industries in which they could sell their products.

When the Irish plant was set up 29 years ago, Semperit could avail of skilled but comparatively cheap labour. Now that role is being filled by workers in central and eastern Europe. The Government swiftly moved to find a buyer for the plant, and despite some initial reported interest, to date nothing firm has emerged.

In a bid to attract another industry to the Ballyfermot area, IDA Ireland and Semperit are working to upgrade the location.

The 220 workers at the Tipperary Tambrands factory heard at around the same time as the Semperit workers that they were to lose their jobs.

After 20 years in Tipperary, the Tampax tampons manufacturer, moved to close down its Irish operations as part of a rationalisation of the US group's business.

A taskforce is now working to try to bring in an alternative investment for the town. IDA Ireland is most optimistic about the prospects of attracting another project to Tipperary, most likely in the technology area.

By the end of the year it was clear that Ireland can no longer compete for old style, low technology manufacturing jobs particularly when there is a squeeze on the market.